Tag Archives: grotto

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Layered Rock Face

Image Leave a comment
Layered Rock Face
Rock layers lie exposed on a cliff in a quiet desert canyon.

Layered Rock Face. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rock layers lie exposed on a cliff in a quiet desert canyon.

On this trip we arrived in Death Valley in the late morning. Midday in the desert is not necessarily a great time to be out in the open, especially on a windy day like this one, so I often head for canyons to find better light and shelter. We took a side road into a quite canyon that doesn’t get a lot of visitors, mainly with the idea of finding a sheltered place to eat lunch and rest a bit after our drive.

We relaxed and finished lunch, and then began to pay more attention to nearby photographic opportunities. Up the canyon was an incredibly barren and rugged landscape, but nearly there were smaller features that seemed quite attractive. We found some canyon plants that were blooming, so we spent some time photographing wildflowers. Across the narrow canyon from our position was this bit of fascinating canyon wall, where old sedimentary layers had been uplifted and then eroded away to created this terraced effect.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature

Desert Indian Paintbrush

Image Leave a comment
Desert Indian Paintbrush
Indian paintbrush flowers in a canyon at Death Valley National Park

Desert Indian Paintbrush. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Indian paintbrush flowers in a canyon at Death Valley National Park.

This impressive — and very red! — flower and its neighbors were photographed in Death Valley National Park in early April, as this year’s spring bloom seemed to be getting underway in earnest. Predicting desert wildflower bloom timing is a tricky thing. This year a lot of folks were saying that there wouldn’t be that much of a bloom since the early season had been rather dry. However, very heavy rains swept through Southern California, including Death Valley, in early 2019. An atmospheric river situation developed near the start of March and there was enough rain to flood washes, fill desert playas, and damage many roads. I had an idea that there might be a good bloom this year, but that it might be a bit later than usual. Judging what I saw on my two visits — one in early March and other at the start of April — that is what happened, and a lot of flowers were emerging near the end of that second visit.

I’m going to use the second part of this post to share a little technical consideration to be aware of when photographing intensely colorful subjects, especially those that are yellow, orange, red, purple, or similar colors. It has to do with exposure. Most digital cameras meter the overall light, but they assume that the colors will be roughly balanced. In scenes with extremely intense colors — like those seen on the paintbrush flowers — the camera’s metering system can over-expose a color channel, often the red channel, even when it seems like the exposure is right. Often the safest thing to do when photographing such a subject (flowers, brilliant sunsets, autumn leaves) is to under-expose by about 1/3 to 2/3 stops so that you’ll retain some highlight detail in the intensely colorful subject.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.